In The Spotlite: Fatal Police Shoot Out Caught on Dashcam

Kansas City, Missouri, police chief, James Corwin, released a video of a fatal shoot out between two police officers and a suspect who had driven his SUV into a tree. The video was filmed September 6th, at 7:45 PM by the dashcams of the police cruisers of the two officers involved.

The video was released today because the Jackson County, Missouri, Grand Jury ruled that the police actions shown in this video were justified.

The first video is an Associated Press raw video of the incident:

The video shows the suspect casually raising his arm to shoot at the officers, as if it was an action he did every day. Although the demeanor of the suspect might suggest he was under the influence, a tox screen of the perpetrator showed he had alcohol and marijuana in his bloodstream, but nothing else that might explain his bizarre behavior.

The two veteran Kansas City police officers exchanged dozens of shots with the perpetrator during the climax to what seemed to be a run-of-the-mill fender bender police call.

"It is a wake-up call," said Mike Perne, the night shift captain on duty that evening. "It was just such a routine call."

The second video is a report from a local TV station, KY3:

The second video shows a slightly different version of the beginning of the incident. The perpetrator, 36-year-old Exae Chavez-Gutierrez, died in the hail of bullets rained down upon him.

The first officer on the scene, who is a veteran of nearly 30 years on the force, was faced with a suspect who only wanted to shoot, not to talk.

Officer Eric Turner, who has 10 years on the force, was the back up officer who arrived on the scene just as the gunfire began.

Chavez-Gutierrez continued to point his weapon at the police officers even after he had been shot and had fallen to the ground, which explains why the officers continued to fire such a barrage of bullets at him.

Neither officer was wounded during the incident, and both have now returned to work.

We may never know why Chavez-Gutierrez acted as he did because nothing else stuck out to explain his behavior.

Chief Corwin commented on the shooting in his blog, saying, "I am releasing this video to show you the dangers KCPD officers face daily. We also are committed to being transparent. No officer ever wants to kill another human being, but as you can see in the video, sometimes they are left with no choice."